What is the Power of 10 Minutes? I am glad you asked.
The Power of 10 Minutes For Learning
If you read 10 minutes a day that amounts to 3650 minutes of reading per year.
The average reading speed for an adult is 250 words per minute.
The average nonfiction book word count is between 90,000 and 100,000 words.
Reading just 10 minutes per day results in you reading 9 to 10 books every year.
Over a 25 year career you will have read for 1520 hours and will have consumed between 225 and 250 books.
The Power of 10 Minutes for Training
If you work 12 hour shifts and average 4 days a week at work and if you commit to train 10 minutes per day, 4 days per week for 48 weeks of the year (that gives you a month off for vacation time) that equates to 1920 minutes / 32 hours of training every year.
Over a 25 year career that works out to extra 800 hours of self initiated training.
If you work 8 hour days and average 5 days a week at work and commit to train 10 minutes a day, 5 days a week for 48 weeks of the year (you get vacation to0) that equates to 2400 minutes / 40 hours of training every year.
Over a 25 year career that works out to extra 1000 hours of self initiated training.
Add that 32 to 40 hours of self initiated training to the scheduled training you do every year with your agency and that is a significant bump in training hours.
The Power of 10 Minutes in the Big Picture of Life
I get it. Life is busy. You work 40 to 50 hours every week. You work out 4 to 7 times a week. You have a spouse and kids. You have court commitments. You have things you need to do around the house. You have family and social commitments. If I told you to read for an hour a day, which I have been advocating for years, you might think, “Thats nice, but who has an extra hour every day to read plus 10 more minutes to train?” That may be a legitimate concern. 70 extra minutes seems like it would be hard to find. You are going to be hard pressed however, to convince me that you cannot find 20 minutes a day and commit 10 minutes to reading and 10 minutes to training.
10 minutes is manageable. 10 minutes does not sound like a lot. 10 Minutes has Power if you invest 10 minutes a day to train and 10 minutes a day to read. Understand up front the powerful ROI (Return On Investment) from those 10 minute deposits in your growth and development.
Teach your people the Power of 10 Minutes. If you teach at the academy level make this a lesson for Week 1 then repeat it throughout the academy. If you are an FTO / PTO teach it to the recruit you are coaching on Day 1 and then reinforce it through your time together. If you teach inservice then build a reminder into every inservice session.
If you are a front line supervisor find a way to build in that 10 minutes every day into roll call or shift brief.
As a trainer make sure to post it on the wall in front of your desk or even as a screen saver on your computer to hold you accountable to The Power of 10 Minutes.
Make it a habit. Make it a ritual. You will be glad you did.
Take care.
Brian Willis
Winning Mind Training – Dedicated to helping good trainers become great trainers and great trainers to deliver awesome training.
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